Daily shuttle service to Ottawa

Wubs Transit, located on Dawley Drive in Winchester, is considering the development of a Daily Line Route (shuttle bus) from Morrisburg to Ottawa.

Presently the company has a route, which includes multiple stops in both Chesterville, Winchester and, of course, Ottawa. This route will not change.

Due to previous inquiries, Wubs Transit has decided to “see what kind of interest is out there” for a shuttle from Morrisburg to Ottawa, reported Nanda Wubs.

She went on to say that the company would like to “develop a route that works for the largest amount of people.”

Wubs Transit offers monthly passes, single trip tickets, passes for one-way trips, and a book of 10 one-way tickets.

Aside from being the best rate, a monthly pass also includes access to OC Transpo. In fact, the pass itself is an OC Transpo pass that includes the Daily Line Run.

The monthly passes for Chesterville and Winchester are $258 per month and $230 per month, respectively.

The rate for Morrisburg would be comparable, the final number depending on the stops involved.

In order to develop the best route possible, Wubs Transit is looking for feedback from those interested in the shuttle.

What central location would work for pick-ups in Morrisburg?

Are there any pick-up points outside the village of Morrisburg that need to be considered?

What locations in Ottawa are needed?

For those interested in having a shuttle bus from Morrisburg to Ottawa, please phone the Wubs Transit office at 613-774-6618. Or, visit their website at www.wubs.ca and click on “commuter shuttles.” There will be a link on this page for inquiries and/or suggestions for a Morrisburg shuttle bus service.

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“It’s been a nightmare,” said Bert Geertsma, a resident of South Dundas, who recently received a bill of $18,313.85 from the Township of South Dundas.

The bill is for Geerstma’s portion of an engineering report for the Barkley Branch to the Weegar McMillan Municipal Drain.

The issue, according to Bert’s brother Jake, began with a simple desire to have the “crick” cleaned out. He had gotten an estimate for the job, approximately $42,000 altogether, and ventured forth to the township to find out how to proceed.

According to Jake, he was told by Don Lewis, manager of planning and enforcement in South Dundas, that he would need to get his neighbours involved by signing a petition.

Armed with 15 names, Jake said that he went back to the township with the paper and then waited for further instruction.

According to Bert, in early November of 2011, affected residents received notification that the Barkley Branch project would cost approximately $350,000 to complete based on an engineering report by SAI Engineering.

Several neighbours withdrew their support for the “cleaning” only to discover that they were now on the hook for the engineering report fee, something the Geertsma brothers maintain they were not informed about prior to the report taking place.

In fact, both brothers maintain that they wanted the Barkley Branch creek cleaned out, but that the report is actually an estimate on creating a whole new municipal drain. “We got a report we never asked for,” said Bert.

“He just went on his own and did it,” said Jake, referring to Lewis.

According to Bert, the engineering report itself cost approximately $41,000 and was divided amongst a handful of residents.

Armed with examples from other Ontario municipalities and backed by his Ottawa lawyer, Donald R. Good, Bert maintains that the initial petition is invalid and, therefore, those listed should not be held accountable for the bill.

The petition in question is a two-sided form: side A is meant to be a geographical description of the property requiring drainage work while side B is meant for names, contact information, and each land owner’s lot description.

Land owners who signed or printed their names on the form used side A, never actually seeing side B, which has a disclaimer explaining liability.

This alone, said Bert, should have caught the attention of township administration and the form should have been returned with instructions for filling it out properly. This, he said, wasn’t done.

In addition, several properties are co-owned between wife and husband, but only one person has signed. To be legal, he explained, the form requires both signatures.

Not only does the form lack the requisite co-owner signatures, said Bert, but it also lacked the signature of the township clerk.

For these reasons, Bert maintains that the township and the engineer should have recognized the petition as invalid and, therefore, chosen not to proceed.

Speaking for the Township of South Dundas, mayor Steven Byvelds, said that “council had a meeting to consider it. Council did what it had to do with the Act,” maintaining that proper procedures, as outlined by the Drainage Act, were followed.

“The township is trying to wash their hands of us,” said Bert. “I’ve talked to councillors in other townships and they can’t believe what’s going on.”

“All we wanted was a clear out,” emphasized Jake, referring back to the $42,000 estimate he’d already gotten from a “reputable contractor” prior to the whole issue taking place. “We got ripped off big time.”

During recent budget deliberations, South Dundas council was presented with a number of different projects for which professional, expert, third party advice of consultants was deemed important.

Studies that were given budget approval were $57,000 for the expansion of the Williamsburg landfill site, and $40,000 for South Dundas’ asset management plan. Both of these studies are necessary, to meet provincial requirements.

Council chose to allocate funds of $30,000 towards a new Fire Master Plan.

This study, is a follow up on the study several years ago that resulted in South Dundas deciding to amalgamate its fire departments and to hire a full time fire chief.

The purpose of this study is to project where South Dundas should focus its training for delivery of service. It too will focus on the distribution of equipment between the three stations.

“We are biased if we do this ourselves,” said Fire Chief Chris McDonough. “We really need a third party to come in and do this properly.”

This plan will also provide third party advice on future equipment purchases, a key component that prompted council to decide to allocate funds for this study in this year’s budget.

Another study that received budget approval is hoped to alleviate long time parking and traffic issues at the Morrisburg waterfront. Council decided to set aside $30,000 for a professional traffic study of the area. Another $20,000 was earmarked for that project for potential early implementation measures.

Horticultural consulting, based on recommendations from the community strategic plan, was also approved by council, so $10,000 was set aside for the study and another $10,000 was set aside for the implementation of some of its recommendations.

Not all of the consulting recommendations made the cut at budget time.

A $25,000 study for the recreation programming department proposed to examine the feasibility, content and potential location for a multi-use recreation facility was cut.

Realistically, the bricks and mortar stage of such a project would not be realized for about five years, according to the mayor and CAO.

“I don’t want to spend the money now, and then have the next council put it on a shelf,” said South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds at the March 11, budget meeting. “We should not do the study until the project is realistically within our sights,” agreed South Dundas councillor Archie Mellan.

Council agreed to wait a year to go ahead with the study to allow time to search for funding opportunities.

South Dundas council will not replace the economic development officer position.

After stalling for over a month, South Dundas council finally put the future of the economic development officer position to a vote at the June 2, regular meeting.

South Dundas deputy mayor Jim Locke has repeatedly expressed his support for South Dundas replacing its economic development officer who resigned April 23.

“If council feels we shouldn’t fill the EDO position, say so,” said Locke. “If any of you have ideas, I want to hear them.”

“I’m not in favour of hiring an EDO right now,” said South Dundas councillor Bill Ewing. “We need to do a review of all positions and go from there,” he said.

“We need an economic development officer,” said South Dundas councillor Archie Mellan. “Whatever handle you want to give it, we need one. We were ahead of the curve when it came to economic development, and now others are going that way. We have to have one.”

South Dundas councillor Marc St. Pierre disagreed.

He argued that tourism takes care of itself and the BIA, Chamber of Commerce and other business groups look after themselves, and that the Morrisburg waterfront committee is self-sufficient.

“For economic development, we need to be more geared to business and residential growth and I just don’t see that,” he said.

South Dundas mayor Evonne Delegarde suggested that the work being done by this full time person should be combined into other departments such as communications handling the promotion and marketing aspect of the job. She argued that business development is done through the planning department and that the website is sufficient as an investor profile resource, as long as it’s kept up to date. She also said that in some other municipalities, economic development is handled by the CAO.

“I am not for re-hiring until we’ve completed an organizational review,” said Delegarde, suggesting that until that review is done, that the workload be distributed amongst existing staff.

There is no money in the 2015 budget for an organizational review.

“Do you think we have the capacity to re-distribute the workload, if we take tourism out of the equation,” councillor Mellan asked the CAO.

“No,” answered chief administrative officer Steve McDonald.

“During a vacancy or transition, other staff pick up the priority issues, but that is not meant to be permanent,” he said. “I hope council has a plan.”

Council plans to hold a committee of the whole meeting to discuss those plans. A meeting date has not yet been made public.

Following the council meeting, South Dundas deputy mayor Jim Locke said that decisions like this have municipal staff very frustrated.

In South Dundas the economic development officer’s portfolio included tourism, strategic planning, business development, liaison work with various committees, promotions and marketing and administratively supervision of the communications coordinator and the initial redevelopment of the website.

Tourism stakeholder discussion forums, the first South Dundas Business Summit, the Upper Canada Region marketing plan and the uniform branding and sign program that has new roadside signs, hamlet signs and facility signs across South Dundas are some of this department’s recent accomplishments.